Gnosticism
Gnosticism "(from Ancient Greek: γνωστικός gnostikos, "having knowledge", from γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems, originating in Jewish milieus in the first and second century AD." Introduction |Wikipedia://Gnosticism> "argued that the material world is created by an emanation of the highest God, trapping the Divine spark within the human body. This Divine spark could be liberated by gnosis of this Divine spark. The Gnostic ideas and systems flourished in the Mediterranean world in the second century AD, in conjunction with and influenced by the early Christian movements and Middle Platonism. After the Second Century, a decline set in, but Gnosticism persisted throughout the centuries as an undercurrent of western culture, remanifesting with the Renaissance as Western esotericism, taking prominence with modern spirituality."|Wikipedia://Gnosticism> History |Wikipedia://Gnosticism/Judeo-Christian origins> "Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has Jewish or Judeo-Christian origins, originating in the late First Century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects. ... Many of the Nag Hammadi texts make reference to Judaism, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God.... Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism"."|Wikipedia://Gnosticism/Judeo-Christian origins> |Inquirer://Jesus' Twin Brother> "For nearly 2,000 years, Christians all over the world have been made to believe that there are only four Gospels about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, namely: those written by the evangelists Luke, Mark, Matthew and John. This is not true. It is now known by non-sectarian Bible scholars that there were probably as many as 60 gospels written by various disciples and followers of Jesus after his death. This is not surprising, because if any person has encountered such an awesome and extraordinary individual as Jesus, who had performed incredible miracles, he or she would surely record such encounters. The choice of only four authentic gospels was decided by the early Church fathers of the emerging Christian religion in a series of high-level conventions, beginning at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, and culminating in the Council of Trent in 1545. All other gospels circulating at the time were considered inauthentic and heretical." Legacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeans "Mandaeans (Arabic: الصابئة المندائيون‎, translit. aṣ-Ṣābi'a al-Mandā'iyūn) are an ethnoreligious group indigenous to the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia and are followers of Mandaeism, a Gnostic religion. The Mandaeans were originally native speakers of Mandaic, a Semitic language that evolved from Eastern Middle Aramaic, before many switched to colloquial Iraqi Arabic and Modern Persian. Mandaic is mainly preserved as a liturgical language. In the aftermath of the Iraq War of 2003, the indigenous Mandaic community of Iraq, which used to number 60,000–70,000 persons, collapsed; most of the community relocated to nearby Iran, Syria and Jordan, or formed diaspora communities beyond the Middle East. The other indigenous community of Iranian Mandaeans has also been dwindling as a result of religious persecution over that decade." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Chwolson "In 1855, being highly appreciated in learned circles, and having embraced Christianity, he was appointed extraordinary professor of Oriental languages in the university. Three years later he received a similar appointment in the Dukhovnaya Akademiya (Theological Academy). In 1856 the Imperial Academy issued, at its own expense, Chwolson's first work, which established the authority of its author in the field of Oriental research, the two-volume Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus (Sabians and Sabianism). Three years later Chwolson published Ueber die Ueberreste der Altbabylonischen Literatur in Arabischen Uebersetzungen (St. Petersburg, 1859; also in Russian in The Russian Messenger under the title Novootkrytie Pamyatniki). This work made a great sensation among scholars by the importance of its discoveries and by Chwolson's theories concerning the old Babylonian monuments." Archons (see Archons) The 'Seven Elder Stars' are the the seven world-creating archons, known as the Hebdomad (ἑβδομάς) in Gnostic systems of theism. References Category:Spirituality Category:Knowledge Category:Consciousness